Chapter 61

Lu Mian didn't rush to find the three outsiders—Ryan, Lyra, and Valentine—but went straight to the old tavern, wanting to try his luck.

If that mysterious lady appeared, he had many questions he wanted to consult!

Anyway, since he had already accepted the free gift and would inevitably pay a price in the future, it would be better to take the opportunity to fleece more wool, just as Aurora said.

Just as he entered the old tavern, Lu Mian's eyes lit up.

That mysterious lady was sitting in her usual spot in the corner, with two glasses of emerald-colored absinthe in front of her.

Two glasses? She knew I would come? Lu Mian walked over and greeted her with a smile:

"Good morning."

The lady was wearing a white women's shirt with vine patterns on the collar today, paired with a beige loose long skirt reaching her ankles, and a pale red women's beret placed by her hand.

Lu Mian, having been influenced by his sister's various magazines, knew this was the latest fashion trend in Trier.

The lady looked up at him:

"It's not early, it's almost noon."

Isn't this to accommodate your schedule? Lu Mian muttered to himself.

Seeing this mysterious lady made his heart instantly become calm.

He sat down and said very directly:

"I've encountered quite a few things recently."

The lady pushed a glass of absinthe to Lu Mian; the swirling green liquid was like the goddess of joy in everyone's heart.

She didn't say he could talk, nor did she say he couldn't.

Lu Mian picked up the glass of absinthe and took a light sip, feeling only the rich aroma of the wine, with a faint bitterness amidst the freshness, which was somewhat different from the absinthe he had drunk before.

"This is?" he asked suspiciously.

"Another kind of absinthe, very popular in Trier recently. To distinguish it from the previous kind, everyone prefers to call it absinthe aniseed wine, especially favored by writers, painters, and poets." The lady also took a small sip.

In the transparent glass, the green liquid seemed to carry a hint of psychedelic color.

The three main ingredients of absinthe are wormwood, anise, and fennel. Absinthe produced by different distilleries has slightly different recipes, and some even add things like lemon essential oil.

She went to Trier for the few days she didn't appear, just to bring back some absinthe aniseed wine? Lu Mian couldn't understand the lady's behavior.

He didn't ask and started talking about the things he had experienced during this time, including reality and the dream.

The lady sipped the small glass of absinthe aniseed wine, listening quietly to Lu Mian's narration.

"That's about it. Is there any way for me to master that mysterious dance in the shortest time possible?" Lu Mian went straight to the point.

As for the key to breaking the cycle and the secrets of the dream, having had previous experience, he believed that asking wouldn't yield an answer.

The lady lightly swirled the emerald liquid in her glass and smiled:

"Without obtaining a supernatural improvement in flexibility, you will never be able to learn it.

"Of course, you could forcibly dance through a segment, but you would definitely suffer injuries like torn ligaments and muscle tears. How would you hunt monsters then?"

Lu Mian was very sensitive to the hidden meaning in others' words:

"Then is there any way to significantly improve my flexibility?"

The lady chuckled:

"You have to ask yourself that."

"..." Lu Mian was defeated again by this kind of vague hint.

If the person opposite him were someone he was more familiar with and not so mysterious, he would definitely say a couple of things:

"Make yourself clear!

"Don't make me kneel down and beg you!"

Seeming to hear his inner voice, the lady added with a smile:

"The way to get a supernatural improvement in your flexibility is within yourself."

"Ah?" Lu Mian looked bewildered.

The lady sipped the absinthe aniseed wine and sighed:

"Didn't your sister teach you ritual magic?"

Lu Mian noticed that the strange emotion in her eyes appeared again.

"She did." Lu Mian's heart stirred. "Pray to myself?"

The lady looked him up and down and laughed:

"Who do you think you are? What effect could praying to yourself have?

"You can only pick the weakest kind when summoning Spirit World creatures; your inspiration is all enhanced toward physical-related aspects."

For example, danger intuition? Lu Mian roughly understood the mysterious lady's point:

The spirituality of a "Hunter" is actually enhanced, but it is mainly concentrated in inspiration and cannot meet the needs of mystical matters such as ritual magic.

"Then what should I do?" Lu Mian asked further.

The lady sighed:

"Have you learned the binary ritual method?"

"I have." Lu Mian nodded.

The lady said "Sigh":

"It's a good thing you have a sister; otherwise, I would have to explain this mystical knowledge to you. It's too tiring, too tiring."

So you don't talk about ritual magic, meditation, spiritual vision, contracted creatures, or supernatural languages because you find it troublesome? You only appear after Aurora finishes teaching? Lu Mian instantly felt a surge of blood rushing up, blocking his throat.

He took two deep breaths and said:

"The binary ritual method requires items closely related to a god or a hidden existence, but I don't have any..."

As he spoke, Lu Mian fell silent.

The lady smiled:

"You do.

"How about it, you remember now, right?"

Lu Mian pointed to his chest:

"The thorn symbol and that blue-black symbol?"

The lady first nodded, then reminded him:

"Don't consider the blue-black symbol. The essence of using the binary ritual method to obtain a response is to extract the divine power contained within the target item. If its power decreases, the balance your body has managed to achieve will tilt toward the bad side, and then..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but her expression made it easy for Lu Mian to understand the subtext.

To express it in Aurora's habitual terms:

"There's no saving you, just wait for death!"

"Is it the blue-black symbol that protected me and kept me from being completely corrupted?" Lu Mian already had some mystical knowledge and understood that the current situation was called corruption.

"It was the great existence I mentioned who protected you." The lady corrected him seriously. "When you uncover the secrets of the dream ruins, I will tell you His honorific name, and you can pray to Him directly."

Was it that great existence who descended with power, sealing the corruption represented by the thorn symbol in my heart and not letting it completely corrupt me? Lu Mian didn't know if that great existence was good or evil, or if there was any evil scheme, but at least in this matter, it made him feel close.

He thought for a moment and guessed:

"Use the binary ritual method to steal the power represented by the thorn symbol?

"If that power decreases, the corruption will weaken, and the seal will be more secure?"

"How can you call it stealing?" The lady retorted. "This is praying for a gift from someone, it's just that He happened to have some power nearby and responded based on the principle of proximity, while the seal of the great existence and the weakening of a certain barrier prevented the subject from noticing."

You people who only say half of what you mean are really good at talking... How is this any different from stealing? Lu Mian muttered to himself.

Combining what the lady had said about divine gifts and abnormal paths, he asked thoughtfully:

"Through the binary ritual method, pray to the power corresponding to the thorn symbol and ask it to grant a gift, allowing my flexibility to be significantly enhanced?"

"That's about it." The lady nodded. "To be precise, it's asking it to grant you the power of a 'Dancer'."

"'Dancer'?" Lu Mian thought of the performance of the "Noodle Man."

The lady sipped the absinthe and said:

"For supernatural paths outside the twenty-two paths, we still divide them into Sequence 9 to Sequence 0 for ease of understanding, correspondence, and reference.

"Hmm... in a sense, the division of sequences conforms to the underlying rules of this world."

"'Dancer' corresponds to the Sequence 9 of the thorn symbol, just like 'Ring-in-the-Middle' corresponds to its Sequence 4?" Lu Mian asked several questions in one breath. "Can it improve my flexibility, enhance my spirituality, and let me easily master that mysterious dance?"

The lady smiled with satisfaction:

"Sure enough, after having a foundation in mysticism, communication becomes much easier, and I don't need to explain anything extra."

Lu Mian asked with some excitement:

"Then what are the corresponding Sequence 8, Sequence 7, Sequence 6, and Sequence 5 called?"

"Sequence 8 is 'Mendicant Monk,' Sequence 7 is 'Contracted Person.' Sigh, why do you need to know so much? First, master the ritual well and strive to become a 'Dancer' quickly." The lady was not very patient.

"Mendicant Monk"... "Contracted Person"... Hearing these two names, Lu Mian instantly had many associations.

"Mendicant Monk" is a profession that exists in reality, mainly referring to certain members of the major churches.

Like the Church of the "Eternal Blazing Sun," it is divided into multiple groups internally due to differences in certain concepts. Among them, there are two main ones: one is the "Brotherhood of Preaching," and the other is the "Little Brotherhood," also known as the "Mendicant Monks."

The former is mainly composed of many clergy members in the churches and the "Purifiers" of the Religious Tribunal, emphasizing cruel strikes and cleanups against heretics, cultists, and wild Beyonders to promote the orthodox doctrines of the "Eternal Blazing Sun."

The members of the latter are mainly concentrated in monasteries, and some church personnel also join, advocating for the restraint of desires, begging for food and asceticism, and preaching in various impoverished places so that more people will believe in the "Eternal Blazing Sun."

Therefore, as soon as "Mendicant Monk" was mentioned, Lu Mian felt it was related to preaching, asceticism, and special ritual magic.

As for "Contracted Person," the first thing that appeared in his mind was the black mark on the parish priest and the mouth-organ monster.

Aurora said that might be the trace left by a special contract.

"Was the monster I killed originally a 'Contracted Person'?" Lu Mian asked in astonishment.

I actually killed a monster equivalent to a Sequence 7?

The lady nodded lightly:

"Yes, 'Contracted Person' is to use the special contract and divine witness provided by that existence to obtain different powers from different creatures; one contract corresponds to one ability.

"Whether they are powerful or not depends on what abilities they have obtained and how many types of abilities they have. It's not impossible for those who have gone astray to be killed by ordinary people.

"In fact, there are similar situations in the supernatural field; it is common for some Beyonders who are not good at fighting to be killed by those of lower sequences.

"Ability is important, brains are also important, and advance preparation is equally important."

PS: Asking for monthly votes~

(End of chapter)